By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The S&P 500 struggled for direction Monday as investors paused bets on big tech following an ongoing plunge in Facebook, though value sectors of the market stepped up to keep a lid on losses.

It rose 0.1% and the Nasdaq added 0.4% (or 140 points), while it fell 0.2%.

Facebook-parent Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:) fell more than 4% to 52-week lows, souring sentiment on the big tech as the social media’s continues to struggle to find a bottom following a rout last week on the back of disappointing guidance.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:), Apple (NASDAQ:), and Microsoft (NASDAQ:) were also nursing losses as investors appear to have one eye on widely expected Federal Reserve rate hikes following last week’s monthly jobs showing a rising wage growth that could keep inflation at a red-hot pace.

“If wage growth fails to moderate they (the Fed) will have no choice but to hike faster— and further—than they currently expect,” Pantheon Macroeconomics said in a note.

The value sector, on the other hand, tried to bridge the technology gap with energy and financial services.

Although oil prices were in oversold territory for five weeks, energy was higher than 1% despite that. However, the market is expected to resume its uptrend since supply continues to be tight and demand keeps rising.   

“In our opinion, a somewhat more pronounced consolidation or even correction would be well overdue after seven weeks of rising prices,” Commerzbank said in a note.

Baker Hughes (NYSE 🙂 Schlumberger (NYSE :), and Valero Energy The biggest gainers in the sector were (NYSE:).

Investors were mostly pleased with the quarterly earnings report.

Tyson Foods (NYSE:) reported better-than-expected earnings as the beef and poultry maker’s growth in the quarter was beefed up by a rising meat prices. The shares of the company rose by more than 11%.

Hasbro (NASDAQ:) was flat despite its beating Wall Street estimates on both the top and bottom lines, driven largely by the toy maker’s partnerships with name brands.

Deal activity was another dominant factor in investor attention, with Front Airlines and Peloton dominating the headlines.

Peloton Interactive (NASDAQ 🙂 surged 18%, as many suitors like Amazon (NASDAQ 🙂 and Nike (NYSE:) are said to be interested in making an offer on behalf of the connected gym equipment manufacturer.

Frontier Group (NASDAQ 🙂 Spirit Airlines (NYSE) prices rose sharply Thursday following the announcement that the merger would be valued at $6.6billion. This deal will see low-cost carriers combine to make the fifth-largest U.S. airline.

Astra Space (NASDAQ 🙂 dropped 6% on Monday, after the tiny rocket maker aborted Tuesday’s launch from Florida.